"Impossible!"
The old woman leaning on a cane looked incredulous and said, "Youliang is definitely not that kind of person you mentioned. I watched him grow up; he is honest and sincere. How could he do those things you say? Youâre falsely accusing him viciously!"
But this time, before others could refute, Yang Liehuo placed a hand on the old womanâs shoulder, shook his head, and said, "Aunt Yun, the Lei Youliang you know is impossible, but the Lei Youliang I know is entirely capable of doing these things!"
After Yang Liehuo finished speaking, another woman added, "Uncle Huo is right. Lei Youliangâs intentions are not as simple as you think. He only pretends to be naive in front of you!"
"From the attitude Lei Youliang has towards us, those big men act like weâre beasts of burden for them. Is this called honesty? Is this called sincerity?"
Immediately, another person spoke up.
Amidst the shouting and clamoring, it turned into a public denunciation.
Whether the people from Celestial Horse Island or West Camp Village, they were all very surprised.
Does Lei Youliang really have no peopleâs support?
Itâs not that Lei Youliang lacks peopleâs support; he focuses on managing the combat personnel, but neglects the emotions of the logistics side.
"You... all of you, how can you speak of Youliang like this? He exhausted himself for our community, and those young men, arenât they all brave and fearless? How can you side with outsiders?"
"Iâm not siding with anyone!"
Yang Liehuo suddenly opened his eyes wide and shouted at the old woman, "Do you know why I didnât follow Youliang and the others to the camp today? Because I already knew about their plan. Their plan was to seize the weapons in the camp to confront Celestial Horse Island. I disagreed and opposed it at the time!"
After shouting these words, everyoneâs view towards Yang Liehuo changed. Who would have thought there would be someone so righteous and clear-headed in the apocalypse!
Is such a quality really good in the apocalypse?
Not necessarily.
But you canât deny that many people hope to meet someone who is reasonable and distinguishing between right and wrong...
"Exactly!" Zhang Su continued Yang Liehuoâs words, "Itâs indeed Lei Youliangâs intention. He made it very clear today, and dozens of people present heard it! They donât talk about credit or relationship at all!"
"Sigh..." Yang Liehuo let out a long sigh and said, "Indeed, Youliang and the others are wrong in this matter. I tried to persuade him, but he wouldnât listen. I had long anticipated this outcome, just hoping it wouldnât come to this."
The people of Kuanzhuang sighed quietly among themselves. How could they have known that the competition for resources outside was so fierce? They thought it was just as simple as killing zombies.
"As I said before, I dare to come because I have no guilt! Itâs Lei Youliang who initiated the conflict. They lost the battle, and you lost your protection, becoming innocent victims. I feel I have a responsibility towards you! Of course..."
"Hmph, what nonsense are you spouting? You kill people and then play the good guy. Youâre a demon, youâre despicable!"
The old woman tapped her cane on the ground, expressing her accusations.
Whoosh.
This time, Zhang Su didnât continue to tolerate it. He snatched the baseball bat from Zheng Xinyuâs hand at lightning speed and, before anyone could react, swung it at the old woman in full view of everyone.
A silver gleam flashed under the car headlights.
Whoosh... Bang!
"Ah..."
The women screamed in terror at the brutal and bloody scene.
Bang, bang, bang!
Zhang Su truly couldnât be bothered to argue with an old woman, so he simply made her shut up completely!
How many people can withstand a swing from Zhang Suâs baseball bat...
This is, after all, the weapon that accompanied Zheng Xinyu in killing zombies along the way, able to smash zombie heads with ease and not weak against human heads!
Yang Liehuo initially wanted to step forward and stop him, but unfortunately, he was firmly watched by Lu Yubo, Chen Hanzhou, and others. He couldnât move and, on top of that, the gun on his back was smoothly removed.
As for the other women, after the initial terror, they actually no longer felt scared, just their faces would tremble every time the baseball bat came down...
"Damn it, Iâm here to save people, not to listen to your insults, damn it! Drag them away!"
After dealing with the old lady, Zhang Su handed the blood-dripping baseball bat back to Zheng Xinyu, and also tilted his head slightly to Xin Qi and the others.
Zhang Su didnât know that the old lady he just killed was the one Su Xiaoya talked about, who was unwilling to change places...
"Hey? All right!"
Xin Qi and the others eagerly ran to the corpse. Pan Guoliang, who was formerly the vice captain, showed no airs and joined in to carry the body, and even winked at Zhang Su, as if to say, good guy, you are really a good person.
Strangely, the people of Kuanzhuang did not have a strong reaction to the old womanâs fate, just like when they heard about the complete annihilation of the combat personnel; except Yang Liehuo was relatively agitated, the rest had ambiguous attitudes.
Watching Xin Qi and the others go away, Zhang Su then focused his gaze on the people in front of him, saying: "Lei Youliangâs mistake shouldnât drag innocent people into it. Iâm willing to accept people from the defeated side, but I donât accept insults! Her foul mouth will drag you all to die with her, anyone willing to accompany her?"
The meaning was clear, if she continued to insult people, we would start a massacre!
Not many could figure this out at the moment, most of the Kuanzhuang survivors were still buzzing in their heads.
Itâs a pity Yuwen didnât come this time, otherwise he would definitely have a lot to say...
But Yuwen wasnât here, another person stepped forward!
Ma Changshou strode to the front of the car lights, waved to the people of Kuanzhuang, displaying great humility, saying: "Hello, fellow folks of Kuanzhuang!"
A simple sentence said with the momentum of a county leader convening a consolation meeting...
"Iâm the village chief Ma Changshou of Chuhai River West Camp Village, I want to say a few heartfelt words..."
"War breeds hatred, todayâs war at the Cyan Dragon Corps was instigated by Lei Youliang single-handedly. At that time, all of us from West Camp Village were in the barracks warehouse, being held captive by your Village Chief Lei, witnessing the entire battle process!"
"Lei Youliang is not only an enemy of Celestial Horse Island, heâs an enemy of us in West Camp Village, and also your enemy. His actions will drag you all into the abyss!"
"Iâm not standing on any side to judge right or wrong in the conflict, I just want to say, Boss Zhang did not vent his anger on you due to the fight, his compassion overcame anger, otherwise he could have vented on you, look at these mighty warriors..."
Ma Changshou walked to the Celestial Horse Island crowd and gestured with open hands, saying: "With the combat power of Celestial Horse Island, wiping out Kuanzhuang is just a snap, everything here could easily be taken in, but Boss Zhang didnât do that, think about why?"
Yes, why?
Zhang Su didnât miss the opportunity Ma Changshou laid out for him, spoke aloud, "Because we are all humans, our common enemy should be zombies. I am tired of internal fighting and hope everyone will develop well together. You know I speak the truth, otherwise, when we found out Su Xiaoya was a spy, weâd wipe you out!"
"Brother Zhang!"
A woman stepped out from the crowd, saying: "You donât need to explain so much, we donât know you, but we know Lei Youliang, heâs just a sanctimonious guy, always claiming to be for our good, to protect us, but in reality, he doesnât care about us at all!"
"Those guys with guns all look down on us, what they need is just... just..."
The words were left incomplete, but everyone understood what she meant to express, the women were emotionally agitated.
Yang Liehuo sighed deeply, heâs a pessimist, had long anticipated things would develop to this point, just lacked the ability to stop it, but since it has come to this, they have to look forward.
"Brother Zhang, you should already have a plan, right?"
Zhang Su realized, the women held deep resentment toward the villageâs combat personnel, a common phenomenon among all survivor camps, but they still respected Yang Liehuo, perhaps because only he genuinely considered the logistics personnel.
"Thatâs right, I thought it through on the way here. We will clean out safe villages around Celestial Horse Island for you to settle down, then cultivate and breed nearby, serving as Satellite Villages to protect Celestial Horse Island. We can form a complete defense system, offering advantages whether against zombies or human enemies."
Yang Liehuo saw Zhang Su finish speaking, naturally asked, "So what do we need to do?"
Zhang Su raised an eyebrow, looking at the people of Kuanzhuang: "If you are willing to settle in Celestial Horse Satellite Village, you will henceforth be members of Celestial Horse Island, sharing blessings and of course sharing hardships, life and actions will be somewhat restricted, food, weapons, and living supplies will be centrally allocated. But I can assure you, as long as I donât go hungry, no one in Celestial Horse Island will go hungry!"
The Kuanzhuang villagers hadnât reacted yet, the people from West Camp Village were already quite excited from Zhang Suâs speech, because from now on they too belong to Celestial Horse Island, they can partake in this bounty.
Inexplicably, some in West Camp Village quietly blamed Ma Changshou, thinking his wrong choice led to the current situation, otherwise, the whole village of fifty or sixty could join Celestial Horse Island, thriving together.
However, some held the opposite attitude, secretly admiring Ma Changshouâs prior thoughtful planning, avoiding a falling out with Zhang Su several times, to leave a fallback route, now this fallback route plays a life-saving role.